NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration announced new sanctions on Wednesday [8-15-18] against three organizations and an individual accused of facilitating illicit shipments to North Korea, keeping pressure on the government of Kim Jong-un amid ongoing negotiations over the dismantling of his nuclear program. The companies targeted by the Treasury Department are based in China, Singapore and Russia. The shipments, which violate sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Nations, include exports of alcohol, tobacco and cigarette products, as well as refined oil products…The sanctions signal the Trump administration’s exasperation with North Korea, which is insisting on a declared end of the Korean War before it takes steps to halt and dismantle its nuclear weapons program. American officials did not consider that as a precondition to an agreement with Mr. Kim — to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula — when the North Korean leader met in June in Singapore with President Trump. But the new penalties are as much of a sign to China as they are to North Korea — that the United States is monitoring violations and will not let up until progress is made on denuclearization. The Treasury Department said that the China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. and SINSMS Pte. Ltd., its affiliate in Singapore, used falsified shipping documents to export products to North Korea.”
–Alan Rappeport, “Trump Administration Sanctions Companies Helping North Korea,” The New York Times online, August 15, 2018